


Cold Fury

by Stennerd



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Buck hates hurting his family, Buck is also his impulse control, Buck is first and foremost a caretaker, Buck is frosty when extremely angry, Buck is his stability, But he wants Eddie in the right frame of mind before suggesting it, Eddie has a lot of problems to resolve, Eddie has become dependant on Buck more than he knows, Eddie is the complete opposite, Possibly Pre-Slash, Slight Canon Divergence, Street fighting, a bit angsty, a different kind of reconciliation, and before buck is reinstated, and buck should really suggest a therapist, but just after the grocery store, he can't help but look after others, kind of mid-lawsuit, you can read into it how you will
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:22:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23527594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stennerd/pseuds/Stennerd
Summary: Buck and Eddie mirror each other in ways people don’t often see. Eddie burns with a white-hot rage. And when Buck gets angry, well, it’s an ice-cold fury.
Relationships: Evan “Buck” Buckley & Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 131





	Cold Fury

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, this one had been sitting in my noggin for a while. I'm not sure about the ending, It's not exactly how I pictured it but hopefully, you enjoy it anyway 🙂
> 
> From whumspter-dumpster's prompts  
> https://whumpster-dumpster.tumblr.com/post/180738459087/character-a-tilting-character-bs-chin-up-to-get-a

Eddie leans heavily on the door as he fumbles with his keys, trying to get hold of the right one. Eventually, after finding the right key he stumbles inside, toes off his shoes and drops his gym bag by the door calling to Carla that he’s home and apologising that he’s late. The voice that answers, however, was decidedly _not_ Carla and he’s not sure if that’s a good or bad thing.

“Eddie? Man, where have you been? It’s been hours since your shifted fin—Jesus Christ are you okay!?” Buck’s voice was loud and quiet all at the same time.

Eddie winces at the words, from the sounds of it he probably looked as bad as he felt, and he felt like absolute shit. Buck appears in front of him, hands feathering over his face briefly before moving to his side, bringing a supportive arm behind his back as he guides him to sit at the dining room table.

He frowns, wondering why Buck was even here in the first place. It didn’t make any sense. The last they spoke was when they were arguing in the grocery store only a couple of days ago. Buck had made it crystal clear that he didn’t care about them. Obviously he didn’t care that in filing his lawsuit he had left Eddie unbalanced, teetering over the edge. Buck didn’t get just how much Eddie had begun to depend on him. So why, after everything, was he here now?

Eddie slumps against the back of the chair at a loss of what to think while Buck disappears into the bathroom to get the first aid kit, moving quietly as he does so to avoid waking Chris up. He sets the kit down gently next to Eddie and then moves to the kitchen to fill a bowl with warm water.

Buck sets the bowl down on the table next to the kit and moves to stand between Eddie’s legs as he moistens a towel before beginning to lightly dab at the crusted blood next to Eddie’s eye. Buck hasn’t said a word and it’s kind of scaring Eddie a little, He can be quiet but he’s never silent. 

He won’t meet his eyes either, keeping his focus solely on what he’s doing. Eddie has always prided himself on his ability to read Buck's face, but right now, now he has no idea what Buck is thinking. The only indication he can see is a muscle tick as he clenches and unclenches his jaw.

Buck tilts Eddie’s chin up into the light to get a better look at his face and the evidence of the fight. Delicately, he wipes his thumb over a streak of blood by Eddie’s mouth but continues to say nothing as he examines it.

After a brief pause, Eddie’s heart skips a nervous beat as Buck finally looks him dead in the eye as he holds Eddie’s jaw steady. His voice is quiet and tense, anger barely restrained as he speaks, “Who did this to you?”

Eddie widens his eyes at the deathly cold expression on Buck’s face and shies away from his touch in shame and guilt, avoiding his intense gaze by staring down at the bowl of now pink water.

Unwillingly the answer comes unbidden to his lips and escapes out in a whisper, “I did.”

The anger is quickly replaced by concern as Buck crouches down while cupping Eddie’s face gently guiding him to look him in the eyes, “What?” Buck searches Eddie’s eyes for an answer, “What do you mean?”

Tears pool in his eyes as Eddie looks down at Buck, confused why all of a sudden Buck cared enough to look after him. And seeing Buck’s troubled expression, he can’t bring himself to lie.

“I did this to myself.”

“Eddie, I don’t understand. What does that even mean?”

“It means that I’ve been street fighting. And tonight,” Eddie gestures to his face and body, “tonight I lost. Badly.”

Buck releases his chin in surprise at Eddie’s answer, before standing up quickly and moving away from Eddie in one swift motion. Eddie flinches at the movement, taken aback at how quickly Buck goes from being concerned to furious.

“You, _WHAT!?”_ It's spoken in a harsh whisper, but Eddie could still hear the fury. “Eddie, how could you be so _stupid?”_

The rage that always now seems to be simmering in the back of his mind rears its ugly head. He stands up quickly, his pain temporarily forgotten as he keeps his voice low and venomous, “How could _I_ be so stupid? What gives _you_ the right to judge _me_? You gave that up when you filed the lawsuit.”

Buck stares him down with a glare, “Seriously? The lawsuit. Come on, it’s clearly not just about that. You’re never this reckless.”

He runs an aggressive hand through his hair and takes a step closer to Eddie, “Jesus man, you have a _son_. What happens to Christopher if you get arrested again? Or if you end up in the hospital from a bad fight? At any time did you stop to think about what could happen?”

Eddie doesn’t have an answer. He watches as Buck starts pacing, clearly fuming before he stops and moves towards the door, lifting his jacket from the hook with his back still to Eddie.

“Where are you going?”

Buck pauses but doesn’t turn around, “Home. Clearly you don’t need me here.”

“Buck wait.” Eddie moves quickly and catches Buck’s arm, stalling from going any further.

Buck whips around, snatching his arm out of Eddie’s grasp. “What Eddie? What could you possibly say that makes all of this okay?”

“I just… I don’t know how to explain it.”

Buck drops his shoulders and looks at him imploringly, “Just talk to me, Eddie. Even if it is to say that you’re still mad at me.”

Eddie, once again feeling the pain in his ribs that he’d been ignoring until now, holds them gingerly as he moves to sit back down in the chair. Buck follows him and turns the chair next to him, so they could sit face to face.

Not sure where else to look, Eddie lets his gaze drift to his hands, inspecting the crusted broken skin of his knuckles as he speaks. “I’m not- I’m not mad at you. I was never actually mad at you.”

Buck scoffs, “Could’ve fooled me.”

“I was just so angry about the situation. You used to be there all the time and then out of nowhere I wasn’t allowed to talk to you? It felt like Shannon all over again, she became part of my life and then she was gone.”

Buck hums and picks up the discarded towel before gently taking Eddie’s hand in his and starts wiping away at the blood on his knuckles.

“There’s just this rage that’s been building inside me…Bosko was the one to introduce me to street fighting, to give me an outlet for all this anger. And well, now I can’t seem to stop. The anger just never seems to go away.” He peers up at Buck, afraid of what he might think.

Buck pauses in his ministrations and puts the towel back on the table before sighing and taking both of Eddie’s hands in his. He looks into Eddie’s eyes without any of the anger or disappointment that Eddie was expecting.

“Eddie, no more street fighting, I’ll be your outlet. From now on, we are going to the gym and you can fight to your heart’s content against me in the ring. Anytime that you feel the need to let it all out, I’ll be there.”

Eddie pulls his hands from Bucks grasp. “What? No Buck. I’m not going to fight you. You’re on blood thinners.”

Buck shakes his head and shrugs, “Doesn’t matter. If you hurt me badly, then you can take me to the hospital yourself. Eds, as long as it stops you from fighting out on the street, I’ll do it.”

Eddie furrows his brow in confusion. “How’s that going to work? I’m not even supposed to be talking to you right now let alone us going to the gym together. You shouldn’t even be _here_.”

“Eddie, I dropped the lawsuit,” Buck says lowly, breaking eye contact.

“What?!”

He rubs the back of his neck, “Yeah, after our fight in the supermarket I went to the lawyer and told him to drop it. You were right, I- I didn’t think and I didn’t know how much it was affecting you and- and Christopher.”

“You did that for us?”

“Of course I did. I mean sure, I was mad a Bobby for not letting me back. The whole purpose of it was to get back to the team, to my family, but not at the expense of hurting you guys. What would be the point if I lost you all in the process.”

Eddie sits there for a moment, processing this new information before grabbing hold of Buck’s hands and pulling him into a hug. It’s awkward from the way they were sitting but he didn’t care at this moment, he was just glad to have Buck back here with him.

Buck tenses for a moment before melting into Eddie and wrapping his own arms around him. He’s missed this, god he’s missed this so much.

They stay like that for longer than it's considered normal for most people, but between them it is normal and they were going to savour it.

Eventually, Buck leans back breaking the hug and Eddie is surprised to mourn the loss of his embrace, not yet understanding what his body is telling him.

Buck clears his throat, “Uh, so…we have a lot to catch up on and you still need to be properly cleaned up,” he chuckles, “dude, I know you said you lost badly, but have you seen your face? People are definitely going to notice.”

“Well then, you better get to work fixing me up.” Replies Eddie teasingly.

Buck gives him a look with mirth in his eyes but doesn’t complain as he pulls out the betadine. And while he continues to tend to Eddie’s injures, Eddie updates him on everything that he’s missed. They end up staying at that table until the early hours of the morning, just enjoying being back in each other’s company.

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt:
> 
> Character A tilting character B’s chin up to get a better look at their face and the evidence of the fight. A delicately thumbs away the streak of blood by B’s mouth, saying nothing as they examine it. After a brief pause, B’s heart skips a nervous beat as A looks them dead in the eyes. Their voice quiet and tense, anger barely restrained, “Who did this to you?”
> 
> As always, thanks for reading xx


End file.
